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Dear Sir,

I am trying to understand why Mr. Balcario Thomas has been given permission to build a beach bar on one of Bermuda' most pristine beaches under the guise of serving tourism with environmental sensitivity.

People who care about this precious resource, as Mr. Thomas is claiming to, would not conceive of putting a building at Warwick Long Bay regardless of how environmentally friendly the structure is. I have talked with Mr. Thomas and asked him why this beach? Mr. Thomas does not admit it but [I believe] he and his partners see it as an open space to exploit - that is - to make money.

I'm guessing that the Minister who went against expert advice to overturn a planning decision in Mr. Thomas' favour did so in a misled belief that he is supporting young black Bermudian business ownership. I am very much in support of black empowerment. However, Mr. Thomas' agenda to build on land which is a national park belonging to the people of Bermuda is not the direction to take.

Can you tell me why the people's land should be developed by a private enterprise? I cannot understand why he should have this privilege. Yes, others have done it in the past, for example, the beach at the Whaler Inn was sold to the Southampton Princess for tourism; Tucker's Town residents - among whom was my great, great grandmother Dinah Smith - were pushed out to make room for tourism. Must we follow the same socially and environmentally insensitive ideas of the past? We simply cannot afford to.

One of the points Mr. Thomas makes is that he wants to bring Bermudians together. A fine idea, and if he has the talent to achieve it, it would not require this beach or any other beach. Aren't there enough bars here already that bring a diversity of people together? I don't think alcohol is an essential ingredient for bringing people together in a meaningful way. How meaningful has it been so far in a country for which drinking alcohol is a national pastime?

If Mr. Thomas wants to really do something that would unify young people and serve tourism at the same time, why not think big and organize young Bermudian men and women to become collective investors/owners of an existing beach hotel in need of innovative and fresh ideas? There is one in Southampton.

I think it would be much better for the Minister of the Environment to think in terms of empowering young people to take on something of this scale than to empower them to take public land and threaten a precious irreplaceable national resource. This would be going the easy route and the result would be to create a legacy of a Minister who opened the door to develop open space. Is this what he wants?

Mr. Thomas claims that he is an environmentally friendly person and what he has been given permission to build is environmentally suitable for Warwick Bay and he would plant native plants, sell liquor in cups from re-cycled paper. This is an example of greenwashing - businesses which are capitalizing on the environmental movement and falsely promoting an environmental image. We don't buy it!

Mr. Thomas says he wants to provide a service to Tourists and to bring locals together. If he believes he can do a better job than the facilities that already exist on public beaches such as Tobacco Bay, Horseshoe Bay and Clearwater Beach, why not encourage him to put in a tender when the next time one of these is free.

Mr. Thomas , I hope you are not allowing yourself to be used by your business associates. Let them show their faces to the media so we can see who they are, also.

Frances Eddy

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